Shared Fears
by angie9281
Summary: After the debacle and chaos fighting against the now dead queen Mab, the evil faerie queen has one final attempt on ruining the relationship between Sookie up her sleeve. trapped in a dreamscape, can the two fight their way out or risk being trapped within it...or worse?


**Chapter 1**

It was a sunny afternoon as they relaxed in the sun. a surprise present unlike anything else she had ever gotten, Sookie had been stunned to receive the keys from Eric and as they relaxed on the patio of the cottage , she sighed contentedly. Heavily guarded and protected by thick walls and only the best security system that there was, she didn't feel like they were in a prison. The walls were covered with thick ivy and the lush gardens were something that belonged in a fairy tale. It was more than a cottage, it was a getaway from their hectic life, from their jobs. From everyone. Having bought the whole of the little island, it ensured that they would never get encroached upon by annoying neighbors. But as many times as he had claimed it was their "cottage" , it was clearly much more than that. A literal palace, though he promised that there was another one awaiting them back in Europe.

"You," she stood on tiptoe and planted a kiss on his cheek "are nothing short of remarkable. This place…..its huge….yet homey."

"You and I deserve the best, don't you think?"

"Humble as ever." she said with a shake of her head. "Kids are sleeping…I was thinking…maybe going out for a walk in the back yard. Not that its any back yard, its like, huge!"

"The size of a football field." he replied proudly. "I spared no expense to give us the room we need and want. And to think I've yet to show you the whole place."

"Never thought I would live in a place with turrets." she mused as they went out into the daylight, the bracelet on his wrist allowing him several hours of day walking ability. "We really do have it all, don't we? I never really asked for much, besides being happy and healthy…and now look at what we have….I am really really lucky."

"We both got lucky…speaking of….is that a possibility while they are asleep?" he said as they wandered the garden under the warm, bright sunlight. He never stopped, she had to admire his persistence to score. Jabbing him with a elbow she only laughed as they walked around the lavish gardens he had put in solely for her pleasure, though had had ensured that here and there a bronze sculpture of something of his Viking heritage was placed. The yard was the perfect blend of whimsy and bravery, with a designated play area for the kids ready for a playground when they were old enough.

**Chapter 2**

Their time outside had been peaceful. Serene. Ending up on a hammock under some willow trees that allowed warm rays of sun to touch their skin, Sookie had been adamant that he go to his day rest. "I don't want you dripping blood all over the floors!" feigning a protest, he followed orders from one of the few people he would ever follow orders from. Alone in the secure- cottage, she explored the twenty rooms more fully, each room more breathtaking than the other and the nursery-windowless for security reasons-was nevertheless as bright as day thanks to modern technology, though the lighting could be dimmed to almost any level desired.

Pleased to see Adele and Hjalmar sleeping peacefully, she closed the door to the nursery and puttered around the….could she call this a mere house? It was a spectacle, but in a good way, of course. Doing the dishes and laundry made her feel centered, normal. Not that she still felt like a freak. A outcast. Those days were long gone. Night was fast approaching but the sticky Louisiana air was still lingering and sitting on their deck looking out over the lake that kept them separated from the mainland, she dove into a book, knowing her enhanced hearing would alert her to the inevitable waking of her kids. Sipping a wine cooler, she flung her sandals off her feet and stretched her toes. Then there came a noise from deep underground. Noise than no mere human could ever hope to make out and it was worrisome. Running barefoot through the ground floor of their retreat, she made it to what had quickly become one of Eric's

trademarks-a personal underground or basement retreat, with she normally being the only one invited inside. As she pushed the heavy door inside and came into the dimly lit room that was as simply decorated as the cubby back home was, the anguished sounds were at a crescendo. Yelling and screaming as if in intense pain, she tried to awaken him from his rest. But it was no use. And then as fast as it had seemed to come on, he stopped yelling, cursing and shouting, falling silent and resting. But even still, she knew he should have been able to wake up. Why he still was not was the concern.

**Chapter 3**

He was trying to awaken, to return to her. Knowing full well it was a dream, he still felt the pain from the torture and visions he was experiencing. Surrounded by those he knew were long dead, it was nonetheless disturbing to see them surrounding him as he lay on a flat surface, silvered by the ankles and wrists. He was in the Fellowship of the Sun Church and surrounding him were Steve and Sarah Newlin, Russell Edgington and Nan Flanigan. No doubt the doctors from vamp camp would be there as well, had Nora not been resurrected. Still, he felt some semblance of their presence as he was surrounded by the evil beings.

"Well, well, look what we have here." Sarah said with her as annoying as ever voice. Gloating over their prize, she looked at Steve with the same contempt that she had had of him until the day she had died. Still, there was something in her eyes that was pleased to have him there with them. "You thought you'd be rid of us forever, eh? You thought that you'd just…kill her and be done with it? Oh, the queen had so many plans for you and now, you will spend the rest of your many days in this state, tormented by all of your loved ones here." Sarah said sarcastically as she bend over the prone Viking and stroked his hair before pulling it and his head up to meet her gaze. Unable to even make his fangs pop out, he was forced to listen as another voice chimed in.

"Even in death, I defeated your love for her and she for you. Because you will never come out of it. I may be dead and Niall running Faery again….but I did what I always promised to do. To keep the fae safe. And so I have done my part to protect her from you….shame I can do nothing else for those monsters you call children. The possibilities that they could have given me…."

"He's gone soft after a thousand years. Look at him…..weak. Chained up. And not just from silver but his feelings for that former human, faerie whatever the hell she is now." Edgington spat. A mighty warrior reduced to taking care of…children." Edgington made a disgusted face. "Pathetic." with those words, he produced a silver dagger with a leather handle and sliced off the tank top that Eric was wearing. Then, slowly and deliberately, he slid the blade up his torso, the flesh burning and splitting like it were butter. Ignoring the agonizing look in his eyes, the former king of Mississippi took great pride in his handiwork. "I learned a lot from Lorena, what can I say?"

"Oh, why don't you let me play with him after all the kindness he showed me?" a accented voice called from elsewhere and as Talbot appeared, stake in hand, he made pouty lips at Eric. "What a tease you were, and you didn't even mean any of it…no worries, you can't die in this dream but you certainly won't be comfortable either. Let me show you the same kindness you showed me." Talbot moved fast, flipping the silvered vampire onto his stomach and with a thrust, shoved the stake into the broad back of Eric, who managed not to yell out in pain but cursed a blue streak.

"I'll get out of this. It's only a dream….she'll save me from this…."

"Oh, I don't think so. You fell for a stupid girl once before. And look where it got you. You do remember Sylvie, don't you?" Nan taunted. "And look at what being involved with Sookie got you? Trapped in a nightmare you'll never escape from and one you will be tortured for an eternity. I always hoped I would get a better chance to know you." Nan smirked. "Even if it's not in the manner in which I had hoped, I think we can all agree that this can be fun too. For once, that arrogance, that pride, is not going to save you. Nothing can."

He couldn't help but laugh. "You're all phantoms…nothing more. I will awaken and return to my life because she will bring me out of this. Her love and power, it has saved me before. I only hope that before she does, phantoms or not, that I can delight in destroying all of you all over again."

Those assembled around him laughed coldly, their eyes all filled with malice and the urge to rip into him. "Oh, there is that arrogance again. Thinking you can get out of this situation like so many before." Steve made a sarcastic sympathetic tsking sound. "Well, you just keep thinking that way, meanwhile, we will get things started."

**Chapter 4**

"What is wrong with him? He keeps shouting, swearing, like he is being hurt. And he's bleeding too. On his wrists, ankles….burn marks it looks like."

Niall had come as soon as Sookie had called out his name. he leaned over the form of the Viking, who they had been forced to tether down to keep him as steady as possible when he convulsed with pain. It was barely working, his strength was still very much a factor even in this strange state. Her eyes tearful, she watched as her grandfather used his power over the vampire, but nothing seemed to be working. Leading her upstairs, forced to listen to yet more shouts coming from the room, Niall frowned. "It would seem, that Mab left a trigger spell within him after you both left Faery. After she was killed. So this must be her revenge from the grave. It took this long to activate because he had been warding it off without knowing it. The strain and exhaustion that has come from raising the kids seems to have caught up with even him, strong as he is."

"But why is he not waking up, and why the pain? What's going on?" she asked as Niall offered her a embrace.

"This magic is a especially dangerous one. It effects the body but mostly the mind, causing him to be trapped in the most dangerous of nightmares where he can be tortured physically and mentally, with the wounds eventually revealing themselves here in reality. And unless the spell is broken, he will either remain in this state forever, or if he should awaken, become mentally unbalanced A threat to even those closest to him. A admittedly clever yet damaging spell, I grudgingly admit it is."

"How is it broken, then?"

"I have only seen this spell used a handful of times back in Faery. Two out of the three victims were lost to the madness while the third never awoke." Niall took note of the increasingly distressed look on her face. "Never give up on the seemingly impossible. Though it will take one who is most closest to him to bring him out of it."

"We tried the shaking, talking and poking. None of that worked. Obviously. So it has to be me to save him. No one else can."

"And it is more dangerous than you realize. I will have to link your minds together and send you into the nightmare. Unless you can defeat who or whatever is harming him, then not only will he be lost one way or another, but there is the chance you yourself may never awaken."

"One thing after another….it's like our family mantra now." Sookie muttered as she bit her lip, hearing once more the agonized screams from the other room. "Do it. And if I fail, I want you to know I don't blame you. If I fail, I want you to promise that the kids are cared for."

"Would you expect anything less?" Niall replied stoically, admiring the bravery of his granddaughter.

**Chapter 5**

She felt herself drift away as she lay on the bed beside him, taking his hand into her own. As she felt a odd sensation of falling, her eyes opened in a place what was not their cottage-castle retreat but the outside of a church where she had plenty of bad memories from. Opening the door, she rushed past all of the pews and to the front of the room where she saw him, the thin wisps of smoke from his bound wrists and ankles. Of course this place would figure into a nightmare for the both of them, what with the history they had with the Newlins.

Rushing up to the altar where Eric was contained, she was teary eyes as she saw him on his stomach, impaled and beaten, bloodied and cut. Still, he managed to open his eyes and took the sight of her in.

"How?" he asked as she slowly went to remove the silver and the stake. "You Can't really be here."

"I am. Niall got me here to get you out. I have to stop whatever is keeping you here. It has to be me but I know I'll need your help."

"I was hoping to spend time with you doing other, more enjoyable things." he said as he slowly got up off the altar, the wounds slowly healing. Perhaps when we are awake and out of this place?"

"Oh, that, is not a possibility. But I like that we have another guest to the party." Nan, Steve and Sarah appeared from out of nowhere and parted to allow the most wicked of them all to stand toe to toe with Sookie, who held tightly to her Viking's hand.

"Well, if this isn't a pleasant surprise. I always held out hope that I could have you and dream or not, the pain and torment will be all too real for what you helped do to me." Russell said with a lecherous smirk

"You deserved much more than what you got in the end." she spat. "I am just glad it was Eric that was finally able to put you down once and for all."

"Ah, but that's not really the case, now is it? Dream or not, the threat of more pain is all to real, is it not? Not only for him, but yourself, now that you've put yourself in danger as well. With any luck, both of you will be trapped here, never to awaken. To think that dreams, nightmares are so We'll give him some time to recover and then,,,, we can do it all over again. You will not know when or where, but you will get round after round of our brands of fun." with that threat, the late king and the rest of the dangerous phantoms vanished, leaving them alone in the church, which them melted away all around them.

"You okay?" she asked as he stumbled forward, the deep wound in his back almost healed. "This is so…..bizarre. I wonder if we will remember all of this if we ever wake up."

"There is no "if". Not only will we wake up, but be better than ever. Think of this as some training for those powers of yours…as strange of a place as this is….where are we anyway?" he wondered as they stood in a plain white void. Before she was able to come up with some kind of reply, the space morphed into something else. Someplace else.

**Chapter 6**

The rustic, yet regal air of the palace was serene, yet they both knew there would be danger lurking about somewhere. He recognized it immediately and though bloodied from the first assault, the second assault was more of a gut wrenching, emotional one. A wind blew into the cool place and there on the floor, rested three forms that looked the same as they had nearly ten centuries ago. Looking at his face, she watched as the fury lit up in his eyes again and she could almost feel the anger that would always linger within him returning to the surface. There was a inherent sadness too as he could not help but crouch down among the bodies of his long lost human family.

"Still weeping over your family….even in dreams." taunted Edgington as the door of the palace opened, the shadowy figure appearing just as he had all those years ago. Stepping into the light, he further taunted the Viking by tossing the pilfered crown to the floor and stomping it to dust, a feat that would have been impossible in real life. Smirking, the evil vampire paced back and forth and snapped his fingers, a half dozen weres appearing out of nowhere. "Ready to play….didn't get the chance to last time, now did you? I regretted not having finished you off with the rest." the wolves leapt forward, yellow-gold eyes fixed on their tall target. Trying to blast them away with her faerie power, Sookie found them somehow impervious to the assault. Things were so clearly different in the dream realm than when awake but she knew she certainly had the same amount of fight. Grabbing a sword off the wall, she joined him in trying to fend them off, seeing that Eric too, had plucked a weapon from the wall. A big battle axe. These wolves were devious, moving faster and even vanishing and reappearing elsewhere. His clothes were being torn from his body as the wolves seemed to focus only on him, ignoring Sookie.

Angry and desperate to get them out of this nightmare, she made her fangs come out and once more summoned her light. Remembering what her grandfather and other fae had taught her about her light, how she was connected to nature and all that, she focused all her suffering, emotion, pain and happiness into the light. With a thrust of her hands, she managed to kill two of the six wolves, the smug look on Edgington's face wearing off just enough to make her laugh. "What's the matter? Thought I was still the same Sookie you saw last time? Things have changed in more ways than one." she kicked a third wolf from chomping down on Eric's ankle. He spun around in time to decapitate wolf number four and side by side with Sookie, they faced the two remaining wolves. "Well done." he said to her as she grinned back, ready for more.

"Thanks….." she replied but her smile faded as he seemed to freeze on the spot. He was backing away-actually backing away-from the two wolves she knew he could very easily destroy without much effort. "What's wrong?" she asked as she watched him back away a few more paces.

"They're not….it's them…..I don't know how but…my parents?" he sounded confused as she looked at the furry creatures bearing down on him. "I can't hurt them….."

She turned to look at Edgington, who had made him quite comfy in the throne that had been Eric's fathers. "What is happening?" she demanded.

"Mind games are fun, not as much fun as drawing blood….but whatever will help keep him trapped here, the better. He sees not wolves but his parents. He hears them, they are berating him for allowing them to be killed in such a terrible manner. That he never was good enough to attain the throne. That he is a failure in every way. And a monster no one could possibly care for."

She looked stricken at hearing this and knew she needed to act. Again, she conjured her light, but this time focusing all the energy into a single ball of purple-blue light. Not long ago, using it would have made her lose all traces of her faerie heritage, having been only a part faerie at the time. Now, with infinite light at her disposal, she could use this power at her leisure. And so she did, putting everything she had into the attack as for one brief moment, time seemed to stand still, he whirled around to try to attack _her, clearly_ believing she was a danger to his "parents" What he was seeing her as, what form, she had no clue. But her light struck true and before his hands could tighten around her neck any more than they were starting to, the creatures were vanquished.

Coming out of the haze he was in, Eric quickly removed his hands from her throat and pulled her to him, all the while glaring at the devious vampire sitting in his father's throne. "How care you…"

"Well, that. Was disappointing. You were so close to falling for it…..no matter. Prepare for the next round and remember, it will only get less pleasant as we go on." Edgington laughed, but for a moment. Bursting into flames, the arrogant vampire was clearly not expecting that he would be bested. "NO!"

"Looks like we won this part of the battle…..one step closer to getting out of this place." Sookie ignored the screams of Edgington as they, and the vampire, faded into dream oblivion.

The room turned to pitch black around them as the voice of Nan Flanigan began to speak. As the scenery came to life all around them, Sookie was confused at first but as she saw it finish forming around them, she knew where they were supposed to be. A French vineyard. He had told her about things in his past, and the one other love he had truly had before herself. They stood still as Nan appeared, dressed in her tv friendly persona that quickly changed to her true, brutal nature that was represented by the heavy makeup and leather. The moonlit vineyard was just as Eric remembered on that fateful night he had been forced to choose which one would survive-Sylvie or Pam. Having chosen Pam and dooming the innocent French girl, it had also led to many a nightmare that he had never revealed to Sookie he had had.

"Seem familiar?" Nan teased. "You may have gotten past the former king but women are so much more menacing. Manipulating. Sexy enough to make even the most strong, stoic and big block of muscle fall to his knees." she paced before the two of them, looking to Sookie a moment. "I admit, I am surprised to see you alive, considering how you've been nothing more than vampire bait. And clearly, you still are. You truly think he has only eyes for you?" Nan laughed coldly. "If you were to ever kick the bucket, no doubt, he would not think twice about bedding some other fangbanger within a hour."

Her face reddened at the diatribe from the former AVL spokeswoman but to her credit, Sookie said nothing but only smirked smugly. "You cannot stand the fact that you were brought down once and for all thanks to my husband and Bill, who worked together to get rid of your phony face once and for all."

Nan's smirk fell into a glower. "Whatever, faerie vamp freak. Soon, the both of you will be trapped here and though you will be together, the torment that you will go through? Oh, you thought you went through enough in the real world….."

"Yeah, yeah, another psychopath, another threat. Please….can't you come up with something original rather than these flashbacks to those oh so fun times?" Eric spat. "You really think we are just going to break?"

"Eventually, everyone does. And so will you." Nan said as a slinky and sultry version of his old flame Sylvie appeared beside her, the mortal wound she had suffered years ago bleeding through her white slip she was wearing. "We could care less that she came after you." Nan nodded towards Sookie. "We look at it as being a two for one deal. You, of course are the prize. We get you, we get the faerie here as well, trapped together for an eternity in a nightmare….or you somehow awaken from the spell and become deranged creatures that will need to be put down….either way, we will win."

"I have missed you. So much….." Sylvie purred as she approached him, fingering the vines seductively and with a flicker of her hand, sent Sookie into a vine that ensnared her, tying her up. Somehow, the vines were powered by something, something that kept her magic and abilities at bay. But it didn't stop her from screaming at the woman who now had her hands around Eric's neck, drawing her face up towards his. "All you need to be happy is here…you can't be happy back there….not really. You are not, have not, ever been capable of loving anything other than yourself. Why fight that truth?" Sylvie purred into his ear. "Give up…..and maybe we can let her leave this place. Unless you want no parents for those twins of yours."

Their eyes met briefly before he embraced, to Sookie's horror, the French girl. As he ran his hands through her hair like he so often did to her, she saw a look ion his eyes that told her something. Something she knew he always had. That rather devious streak he was so well known for. For several more agonizing minutes, she was forced in place to see him slowly undress the ghoulish looking Sylvie. But then he stared right at a gleeful Nan, who was expecting him to fall before her at any moment, feeling as if she were about to win where Russell had failed. Instead, with a quick, silent thrust, he tore off the head of the young beauty and tossed it right at the shocked looking Nan, blood splattering all over her leather. "You never gave me enough credit….a shame…..for you."

The vines were loosening around her and she knew that it had to be him to defeat the threats himself/ but no one had said she couldn't help and leaping with her super speed, she pounced on Nan before Eric could and she felt her vampire side take over. Plunging her own fangs hard into the villainous woman, Sookie was able to weaken her enough for the Viking to finish the job with a piece of fence broken off one of the grape vines nearby/ the remains of the two women melted away, leaving the two alone once again.

"As usual, you can show a girl a good time." Sookie said as she stared at the spot where Sylvie's decapitated body had fallen. It had been upsetting, more than she had thought it would be, to see not only the return of his dead first real love but to see him almost falling into her clutches."

A rare sheepish look fell over his face. "I tried to fight her off….I felt….like I was losing control."

"But you snapped out of whatever trance she held you in and you got rid of her. I am just sorry you had to relive that night…..in a slightly more warped way that the real night had been….I gotta give them credit for using such creative ways to try to get you. Not that I particularly liked this one, however." her brown eyes were filled with that passion and fire he had grown to love about her. He said nothing but offered a smile. "So….wonder what the rest are gonna try."

"I have a bad feeling we are not going to be going back to the church…that the worst place I have been in is what will await us and you never got to see or experience that which I encountered. I felt relieved at the time you hadn't but-" he stopped as the vineyard faded away, no doubt to reveal their next challenge.

**Chapter 7**

She was only able to watch his face as the unfamiliar scenery appeared around her. There was a series of rooms they were walking past, empty ,save for medical type equipment. None of it looked pleasant. And as they entered through a door, Sookie was able to put two and two together from what he had briefly talked to her about. They barely lingered in the room that had once bottled the tainted True Blood when she spoke to him. "This is Vamp Camp, isn't it?"

"Smart girl." a voice spat as they vanished from the bottling room to the smaller room. Sarah stepped out from behind the large cage that had briefly trapped Eric in, forcing him to watch as the devious late governor Burrell and Dr. Overlark had injected Nora with the soon to be fatal injection. And in a flash,, he was trapped once more in the cage, Sookie helpless to free him as Steve grabbed her from behind.

"Gosh, even in a nightmare, you are a pain in the butt." Steve said with that all to familiar preachy voice of his. Apparently in this realm, he was still a vamp and proving as much, he made quick work to sink his fangs into Sookie's neck and try as she might, she was struggling to fight him off. Steve Newlin, of all people, she was having trouble fighting off. All the while, Eric was trapped in the chains as he had been what seemed like an eternity before and Sookie herself was placed on a upright stretcher just as Nora had been put on, strapped down and chained with iron chains. Déjà vu all over again, thought the Viking angrily, and though he knew that his sister was back among the undead and was safe, as far as he knew, this was still undeniably a unpleasant call back.

"I never got the chance to really meet your sister….shame she had to come back and live again. One more freak returns. At least you two won't ever be able to do the same." Sarah said as she circled Sookie, blood running from her neck as Steve bit into her again, slowly and deliberately. Clearly disgusted with Steve-it was strangely nice to see some things about this realm stayed the same as reality had-Sarah fingered Sookies hair before giving it a hard tug. "To think I actually ever felt bad for her getting mixed up with y'all. But turns out, she was and will always be some fangbanger whore. And you can watch her suffer and feel yourself fall deeper into the abyss…never to awaken as you were. And should you awaken, I can only hope your first act will to tear your family to pieces." hissed Sarah angrily.

It was so strange as she felt her strength being taken from her, this dream, this nightmare was so powerful and dangerous. As she started to black out, she could hear the snarls coming from Eric as he tried to break out of the shackles, from a cage he had never thought he would be in again.

**Chapter 8**

Niall was watching the movements of the two on the bed, seeing the wounds appearing and healing over and over, though the healing was taking longer this time around. The moans and shouts coming from the dreaming couple were almost too much for the ruler of the fae to bear but he was desperate to do anything to try to help, even if it meant sending her some of his strength into the dream with her. He felt she was fighting but the fight was being slowly pulled from her. If he didn't do something soon, hw knew that they would both be lost, one way or the other.

She felt the energy within her and saw her grandfather as she tried to come to, hearing his voice and feeling his magic trying to pull her from the stupor that she had been put in by Steve's attack. Her eyes fluttered open for a moment, long enough to see the cage a few feet away, seeing him struggling to break out still. But her eyes began to close again.

"You mustn't give up….you are nearly done…almost at the end…..defeat them….you must….for the little ones."

At hearing a mention of the kids back in the waking world, Sookie felt her strength returning, helped by the energy Niall had brought to her from, no doubt, the real world. Using that strength, she busted free of the restraints, having had more than enough of being tied up. Rounding on a stunned looking Steve, she licked her lips slowly as she stood toe to toe with him. "You were always pretty wussy, either as a human or a vampire. Pathetic, really." she took him by the throat and shoved him backwards into Sarah who stumbled backwards, breaking one of her pastel pink pumps in the process. Angrily, she shoved her ex off her and turned to face Sookie, this time clutching a syringe with a golden colored fluid inside. "It may not work as it did in reality…but how I have wanted, hoped, to someday see the two of you ended once and for all." she grinned as she went to reach her skinny arm through the bars of the cage, ready to put the plunger into Eric, and likely sealing both of their fates as remaining forever in this nightmare state or, possibly awakening them only to become monsters that would threaten those they loved. Either option sucked, that much Sookie knew.

her eyes met Eric, both knowing the gravity of their situation, that this was their last chance to free themselves from this nightmare. Whoever would have thought that Sarah Newlin once more would be the one that was on the cusp of destroying them. They needed each other's strength at this moment in time and dodging Sarah, and a recovered Steve, she slipped her hand and arm into the cage, her hand managing to reach his. And it was as if lighting was charging through both of them, a energy flew from Sookie and knocked Sarah's arm away, the syringe falling to the floor. Swiftly, Sookie used her renewed strength to pull off the door of the cage and removed the right silver cuff off of Eric, which was enough. Charged by the energy she had helped flow into himself, he broke free completely of the silver chains and knew that if not for Niall's power, both of them would still be sitting ducks. He looked at Sookie with appreciation.

"Do you mind if I put this to bed once and for all?" he asked, rage in his eyes. "Because, I have had more than enough going down memory lane."

She found herself frightened by the anger in his eyes, the haunted aura that seemed to have taken him over. She had no idea the true depth of his torment in the vamp camp. Now, she understood things better. Nodding, she had to remind him that it had to be her to end them. To break the spell.

"I can play with my food before you finish." he replied and in a blur, he had both of the Newlins by the throats.

**Chapter 9**

Standing aside, not wanting to get in the way of the enraged Viking, she was nevertheless disturbed by the way he looked then and there. She had certainly seen him angry before. And all kinds of other emotions. But perhaps it was the threat to his family, the reminder of what had happened in the vamp camp that had pushed him to the brink. She supposed even he could only take so much before snapping. Though her stomach was strong, even Sookie paled as she watched him tear the Newlins apart limb from limb with his hands and fangs, though for her part, Sookie made the kills by taking their heads, one by one. Slowly, she stepped away, into a corner of the room, to allow him to get out whatever else he needed to. And sure enough, he proceeded to lay waste to the upright table she had been trapped on and ignoring the burns and pain from the silver bars of the cage he had been trapped in, he destroyed the cage as well, leaving only a pile of twisted metal and debris in his wake, the bloody remains of Steve and Sarah flowing around it. And then, it was gone. Everything was just….gone.

With a jolt, she sat up in the bed and saw Niall was in the room, the twins in a bassinette in the room. He had apparently just fed them as there was a slight smell of spit up in the air. He gave the slumbering babies a last look before hurrying over to the large bed and hugged his granddaughter just as Eric awoke with a start. Relief was all over her face as she let go of her grandfather's embrace with a grateful look and turned to tend to a still shell-shocked looking Eric.

"You okay?" she asked him as she gently touched his arm, the bindings that Niall had used to keep them both steadied having disappeared the moment they had awoken from their shared nightmare. He seemed out of it for a few moments, as if he couldn't hear her. Then he blinked and looked at her.

"I am sorry you had to see all of that….you can't even begin to imagine what those places were like….in reality."

"It's over now and you are both free from the spell. I was getting rather worried….and tired. All those wounds that kept appearing on you both….if I had a dollar for every one I had to help heal along to keep your bodies strong…." Niall trailed off. "Those two certainly missed you." he nodded towards the slumbering twins. "But I can keep an eye on them for a while longer if you two want to get some sleep. It's dark out, so I can remain here while you two can go elsewhere…"

"We appreciate the offer, but we are going to be fine. Besides, you've got things to deal with back in Faery and I don't want you missing out on anything important." Sookie said as she walked over to the bassinette.

"You four, are what is important right now." Niall replied but as he looked at the disturbed looking vampire still perched on the edge of the bed. "And I am not liking how he is looking."

She had to agree but taking her grandfather's hands, teleported themselves to another part of the cottage. "I can take care him…..he likes and respects you but now….I can tell he wants some privacy."

Niall nodded serenely. "Understood. I am proud of you, for breaking the dark magic that put him through it, though I dare say it clearly has left a mark on him. Take care of him and I will see you all again soon." kissing her on top of her head, he vanished as she teleported herself back down into the other room. She found Eric still on the bed, looking lost in thought still.

"Something is seriously up with you, isn't it?" she asked with a frown, sitting beside him.

"I hate having you see my worst memories, my worst fears, come to life like that., I always wanted to protect you and I couldn't even do that, keeping you safe from-"

"I already knew about those things that happened to you. It was dark magic that led us on that trip and it is a trip we will never be on again. Not that our life will ever really be quiet or peaceful for more than a few days at a time…unless we get really lucky…but I do not think any less of you for what I saw in that nightmare realm. I don't want you to think on that any more. It is over. Now we can go back to enjoying this little retreat and just….relax."

"Relax. You really think that is possible? Every time we turn around it is someone else after us and even in dreams, we can't be certain we are safe….I am wondering if I have doomed us to a life always in fear and uncertainly. Maybe I should have burned up once and for all on that mountain. At least you'd be safer and not have such a life….." he turned hi back to her, not being able to bear seeing the tears forming in her eyes as he had spoken.

"Don't you even dare go on saying anything like that." Sookie replied, her voice cracking. "You have no idea what you out me through when you left and if you try leaving me again to try to keep us safe….I feel safer with you. The kids are safer with you…let me take the pain and frustration from you…." she put her arms around him and shoved him as gently down onto his back as she could before she began covering him with gentle kisses and from her hands, a soft light wove itself into him, calming him and through their strong bond, she could feel his anger and frustration lessen and eventually, he reciprocated her kisses.

"I don't know what I would do without you….or the kids…..or any of our family….to lose any of them…to lose those we regained again-" she put her finger on his lips and met his with her own and for the next few hours, they were able to heal each other in the way they knew best.

**The End**


End file.
